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" The challenge that we faced with the arrival of the Obama administration is, they didn't really have time to build trust before they had to make big, difficult decisions. "

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" I had known Colonel Charlie Flynn since he was a lieutenant 23 years earlier, and I remembered how his first child, Molly, had been born while Charlie was deployed to the first Gulf War. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Years

First Child

Child

" Many leaders are tempted to lead like a chess master, striving to control every move, when they should be leading like gardeners, creating and maintaining a viable ecosystem in which the organization operates. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Organization

Control

Creating

" What I'm trying to do is teach people how to actually get individuals in organizations to do the kinds of things to make a difference. It starts with not just studying the mechanics but really understanding how people operate. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Make A Difference

Understanding

People

" The military likes to figure out how to do something, put it in a manual or an operating procedure, and perfect doing it, and have everyone do it the same way. I don't like that. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Military

Doing

Way

" I go back and think of President Kennedy, who had a military service background, but he comes into the presidency, and he's faced with a decision on the Bay of Pigs, with the C.I.A. and the military giving him data, and it turns out very badly. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Giving

Service

Data

" If you talk to a British officer or NCO about the strategic objectives of the end state, you'll often get a spirited discussion that's very well informed. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

You

Discussion

Well

" Our bureaucracy had excelled at compartmentalizing intelligence - we had a 'need to know' system - but by 2004, it was impossible to foresee what elements of our organization would and would not need to know a given piece of information. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Organization

Impossible

Intelligence

" My dad was always the soldier I wanted to be. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Always

Soldier

Wanted

" When I was a lieutenant in Special Forces many many years ago, I thought I was getting fat. And I started running, and I started running distance, which I enjoyed. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Thought

Special

Running

" I think with the beginning of any political administration, you have to build trust, and it takes time. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Think

Trust

Political

" I resolved to try to steer clear of politics. That wasn't easy. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Try

Politics

Easy

" Tensions and violence in cities across America are reminders of how quickly communities can erupt with an absence of social trust. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Violence

Trust

How

" What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world. The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes... is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who've never seen one or seen the effects of one. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Never

World

Seen

" There is only one Army in which you serve. When that identity is gone, it is gone forever. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Only

You

Forever

" Mike Hall was my old friend and, more important, the finest soldier I'd ever known. After over 30 years of service and then 18 months at a good civilian job, a phone call had brought the retired command sergeant major back on active duty to become the senior enlisted adviser of all international forces in Afghanistan. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Phone

Back

Friend

" Like leaders in many walks of life, my business has been to serve with, and for, others. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Life

Business

" Anyone in a position of power is either corrupt or assumed to be corrupt, and the assumption of corruption is as bad as the reality of it. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Corrupt

Bad

Power

" In combat operations in places like Afghanistan, we often confronted the specter of dangerous people with powerful weapons who were a threat to their community and to our soldiers. Our aim was to quickly determine who in that community was a legitimate actor who could be trusted with a firearm and who was not. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Community

Powerful

People

" If who you were was entirely based upon the position you were in or the headlines you got in the newspaper, or you had essentially subcontracted out your self-worth to the judgments of others, then you're going to be like tumbleweed. You're going to be blown. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Newspaper

Others

" Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Professional

Integrity

Honor

" I'm a believer in the Afghan people, so I support an increase in forces there. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Believer

Support

People

" Public television works hard to engage young learners and build the skills needed for a jump-start on life. We need our youngest to be curious, resilient and empathetic, and prepared for the jobs of the future. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Future

Television

Need

" America needs a restart. It has long devoted its energies to solving its many big problems - unequal opportunity, crumbling infrastructure, lagging education, inadequate training in a changing economy, and threats to peace around the world. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Training

Peace

Opportunity

" There's an art to asking questions. Briefings are valuable but normally communicate primarily what the subordinate leader wants you to know, and often the picture they provide is incomplete. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Leader

Picture

Know

" The number of people in America killed by firearms is extraordinary compared to other nations, and I don't think we're a bloodthirsty country. We need to look at everything we can do to safeguard our people. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Think

People

Need

" We could do good things in Afghanistan for the next 100 years and fail. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Good

Good Things

Years

" Political campaigns offer Americans an opportunity to adjust direction, reaffirm values, and recommit to the covenant that binds them together. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Together

Opportunity

Values

" Americans enjoy the exciting, cinematic vision of a squad of muscle-bound Goliath boasting Olympian speed, strength, and precision - a group whose collective success is the inevitable consequence of the individual strengths of its members and the masterful planning of a visionary commander. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Vision

Strength

Success

" To this day, I am saddened by Ranger Tillman's death, as I am for the loss of every service member I served with, and for the pain such losses cause each family. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Service

Death

Family

" I think, at the end of the day, you do better when you tend toward being transparent, even though there's some risk. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Better

Day

End